For a long time, the term “Metaverse” was only known to science fiction fans. But now half the world knows it, just like the associated vision of virtual worlds that merge with each other and with the physical world. Mark Zuckerberg was responsible for this. By renaming his company from Facebook to Meta, he sparked a gigantic hype that investors, start-ups and tech companies jumped on. Now everyone just talks about AI, even Mark Zuckerberg seems to avoid the topic of the Metaverse. So is the Metaverse dead before it even begins?
The article argues that the Metaverse could still be the future of the Internet – but the hype came far too early because the necessary technologies were not yet available. Plus, the idea that a single company could just declare the Metaverse was presumptuous. But the billions in investments in recent years have accelerated developments towards the Metaverse. The text therefore highlights how Meta and other companies are working on VR and MR glasses, digital avatars or generative AI that are intended to enable the Metaverse. Young people in particular are also spending more and more time in virtual worlds, i.e. in harbingers of the Metaverse.